I did some searching and came up pretty dry. Anyone thought about it?? Done it? Reverse is acting up on my wifes 02 5 speed, and I'd rather do this than another 5 speed.

 

I had that same question a while back. The answer I got was "yes it can be done, but its expensive". If you go for it, id love to get the low down on how it went and how expensive it ended up being. My only regret in getting my MCC was that I dont have a 6th gear, unlike the MCS. Good luck

 

I'm not sure I see the different input shaft. I thought the MC and MCS was the same engine with the exception of a few internal differences, and the charger.

Maybe it has something to do with the forged crank???

 

I asked the same thing months ago and only got the response that it would be expensive.
I'm no mechanic but: besides mounting it, it would probably require some ECU mods and adjustment for the the new gear ratios at a minimum. Also maybe the subframes are a different so mounting and securing would be a issue.

Would be cool if someone did it.

 

From what I was told is that the axle shafts are different and to mate it up...you have to mill the output shaft on the motor.

 

I'm not sure where you live - but Steve's Autoclinic in North Los Angeles did do a 6-speed swap a year back on SPI prototype turbo mini cooper (non-s). Was alot of time and a custom fab - but if your really serious - he can probably do it.

-dhayashi

 

I had a similar question recently and did some investigating to see how much work would be needed to retrofit an '05 or '06 Getrag 5 Speed into my '03 Midlands 5 Speed. Seemed that going from Cooper to Cooper would be less problems than MCS to MC.

But sadly, there are a ton of things that need to be changed over, and the best solution was to get a totalled MINI with the tranny intact shipped over to the shop, and have them do a full swap.

IMO, I would have preferred to replace newer Getrag trannies than refurbished Midlands trannies over time, and that any mods needed to make my MC accept future Getrag trannies was worth it.

I had this looked at by Scott over at Central Coast Coopers in Oxnard. We put my '03 MC and a friends '05 MC on a lift and compared the two.

 

So it is possible then?

 

We have had a couple customers want to do this. I have figured it all out, but after pricing the parts the customer decided against it. I really would like to do the conversion, so if anyone wants give me a call and we'll go over what it will take.
WAY

 

Well we all know it's possible to put a 6Speed Getrag in a Cooper based on the one that Steve did at his shop, but I've never heard of anyone fitting a 5Speed Getrag in a Cooper. Based on the inspection comparison, it seems entirely possible, but a whole lot of pieces need replacing. Things like the master cylinder is mounted differently. The mount for the tranny is different from '03 to '05, etc. Buying these all new from the dealer will be prohibitively expensive, and that's why parting out an '05 or '06 is more feasible.

I intend to follow this route in the future to get the gearing changes for the '05 in my otherwise perfect '03. To me it doesn't make much sense to put the 6speed.

However I would be interested in knowing if there is more or less work to retrofit a 6speed '03 Getrag versus a 5speed '05 Getrag into a Cooper. To me, that would make all the difference.

Richard

 

Can you tell us what all is involved? Do you just need additional parts from the MCS or is there some fab work required? Really I would like to know what all you need in addition to a complete new 6sp from the dealer. Thank you for your help.

 

it requires more work than most are willing to do.. hubs, axels... and the imput shaft is too big on the 6 speed tranny... so that has to be changed or machined

 

I'm not sure why anyone would want the 6-speed in the Cooper, unless they also went to the expense of changing to a close ratio gearset... IMHO, the Getrag 6's gear ratios are totally wack for a Cooper.

 

The ratios are just slightly larger than the 5sd, is it really going to be that bad? Not that anyone doing the swap will be running stock power but just curious since I'm not familiar with gearing...

1st gear for MC is 3.3:1 vs 4.5:1 for MCS
2nd is 1.9:1 vs 2.7:1

oh also why does the MCS have the same ratio for 3rd and 5th?

 

1st and 2nd are way, way taller than in the older Getrag-6 than they are in the Midlands 5-speed. That small difference in ratio would make the Cooper dog it from 0-60 (without some sort of forced induction help, that is). Now, if you wanted to buildya a Cooper with a big turbo, the Getrag-6 would probably make sense...

IMHO, that's one of the greatest things about the N/A Cooper - the gearing is great... In fact, better than in the S, IMHO. At least around the autocross course, anyway.